SALTBURNT | inbox.

[breeding]

WELCOME TO THE SALTBURNT NETWORK

USERNAME
HOMELANDER

text 💥 audio 💥 video
 

Comments

[provoke]

There is a body in my room that needs moving, and I have had a hand in their death.

Will you come?

[breeding]

[ oh thank god it's normal stuff ]

hardly even an issue. be there in a second.

[ And, true to his word, Homelander arrives at Aemond's door within the next ten minutes, glancing around the hall once before he knocks on the door. A body doesn't bother him, but he's certain (as is Aemond, if his texts are any indication) that the rest of the house won't necessarily feel the same way. ]

Hey, champ. Room service.

[provoke]

[ he can't even laugh; aemond's body language now is that of a man who's tired and worn out.

aemond steps back to let homelander through, and behind them on the canopied bed is gideon's body, still somewhat warm. he's only been dead for a couple hours. there is a knife on the bedside, but not bloodied. there is a pillow, crumpled at the edges as if gripped tightly before being set down by gideon's side; chalky, dried spit stands out around the boy's mouth. ]

He does not want to be touched by the doctors. I do not know where else I might place him where he will not be disturbed.

[breeding]

[ The scene isn't really what Homelander's expecting. Considering Aemond's confession as to bloodthirsty thoughts the week prior and the text I have had a hand in their death, he'd imagined a murder scene, but this is—

—drugs, as far as his powers can divine. An intentional overdose, even. Homelander takes a long look at the body before fixing his gaze on Aemond, as though simply looking at the boy might reveal exactly what's going on here. But the tension's there and then gone, as Homelander sighs, deciding not to question Aemond any further in the immediate moment, at least where motive is concerned. ]

If he doesn't want the doctors touching his body, that's one thing; if he — or you — are trying to keep this a secret, that's another. Tell me which it is, and we can go from there.

[provoke]

It's—

He'd asked me to kill him.

[ i have refused, he doesn't say. he can't say it, not after what he's said earlier in the week to homelander, not after the call for help, not after he's rebuilt a reputation for being a reckless man of action among the guests here. it serves his mother better to have a son she can caution others against; it serves his family well to act as a deterrent against outside interference regarding their personal matters; it serves him best that he should not have to explain his desire to be seen and acknowledged, and only demand it from those with the patience for his character.

does he dishonor gideon, like this? does he break faith with homelander, like this? all he knows is this is the first death here that he did not wish to happen.

gideon has only ever been kind, and homelander ever so understanding. ]

The doctors would not keep his death secret. He walks the path between the living and the dead. He had to die so I could get the name of Lady Sansa's murderer.

You understand me, do you not?

cw suicide

[breeding]

[ Even with all the new chatter in his head, Homelander can tell Aemond isn't totally himself. The picture he paints is a pretty clear one: this was a choice made for the sake of shortening the game, for the sake of finding another wolf. It's not a strategy he agrees with, but it's too late to say any of that, now.

So he doesn't. Rather, grim: ] Yeah, I get it. [ Then, with a look at Aemond, ] Hey. Hey. It'll be fine.

[ As fine as anything can be when a suicide(-murder?) is involved, anyway. If the issue is keeping the body out of the way until the game resolves itself, then their options are limited. It's going to be a hassle, sure, but for the moment, this is at least preferable to whatever it is Set and Armand are up to. ]

Do you trust your roommate? Or— [ he hesitates ] —whatever visitors you usually get? If you don't, we can use my room, or find an empty suite. But we're going to need a tub for as long as you want to keep him undiscovered.

A tub, and a lot of ice.

[provoke]

I yet sleep alone in these quarters, but on occasion I entertain a guest. Pierce Strickland, if you know of him. He's—

[ a friend. another one, dead as well - on the surface. but even if aemond knows the truth of it now, he's still angry about it. at how he's powerless to wield himself against the enemies of his house and those who have proven loyal to him and him alone. ]

It doesn't matter. No one will bother us here.

Why do we need the ice?

[breeding]

[ (Pierce's name goes ignored — in no small part because Homelander was arguably the main hand responsible in staging his death, at least on the surface.) ]

If I'm hearing you correctly, you need this body taken care of for at least through the end of the week. Since taking him to the doctors is out of the question, we wanna make sure his body lasts as well as it can until then, and to do that, we need the ice. Slows down decomposition. Means he'll be less ... gross by the time you're in the clear.

[ With a nod toward the bathroom door: ] If you don't mind opening that up, I can carry him in.

[provoke]

[ aemond nods and gets to work immediately, moving graceful and at speed to hold the door open and the path clear. gideon's body looks so small in homelander's hands, when he picks the younger man up, the differences in their build so stark. one would not be out of place among the knights and fighters back home; the other would seem all too foreign, and not just for his features but for the softness of his body.

gideon should not have to die, but he's dead all the time. it roils bitter in aemond's stomach, the thought of it. ]

How much ice is needed? Would it not burn his skin as well, to be covered by it?

[ he's aware about frost marks, the paradoxical nature of a cold so intense it burns the skin. ]

[breeding]

[ Gideon's body seems like a doll in Homelander's arms — he barely seems to expend any effort in picking him up, carrying him without faltering before placing him carefully in the bathtub. The question about frost burn takes him by surprise — Aemond really cares. The thought reads in the way Homelander pauses to look back at the boy, hesitating before moving to collect some of the towels from the cabinets nearby.

He could call it weakness. But he'd made a promise, of sorts, hadn't he? To be there for Aemond when he needed him? He can't do anything about Ryan, here, but Aemond— ]

We'll wrap him up — should be enough to keep him from getting frost burn. As for how much ice, as much as we can get, enough to fill the tub around him. [ Another beat. ] You stay here, get him covered. I'll get the ice. [ It doesn't seem like Aemond is any state to leave the room, at least, and Homelander doesn't mind brow-beating a few kitchen staff members into giving up a few ice bags at a time. ]

[provoke]

[ the problem is that aemond does care. there are people in this keep that he's become dangerously fond of, the way a covetous madman becomes fond of the object of his desire.

aemond's fondness isn't so based or carnal, but it is sharp all the same. gideon drake, with his pale hair and his dream walking, had been a kind friend to aemond. far kinder than he expected anyone to be, more loyal than he thought anyone would be so early into an acquaintance.

he asked gideon for a promise, and gideon gave his life to meet it. how can aemond not want to honour him? to give back as much as he's been given without it being compelled from him?

every scrap of affection he's had in life, he's fought to claim tooth and nail, fang and claw, bruise over bloody bruise. and gideon - and pierce, and homelander - had given it to aemond as simply as they breathe.

he's careful in setting gideon's quickly cooling body into the tub, arranging his limbs so that blood will not pool at the joints and cause the flesh to split. he's seen it in bodies that have been left in awkward piles, the way parts would slough off and rotten blood would pour out at the bends. he doesn't want that to happen here. not when people can return from the stranger's embrace. ]

Will you take long?

[ he cannot help the faint shaking in his voice, the quietest hint of panic. how he sounds so much like a child when he speaks with doubt at what he should do. ]

[breeding]

[ Homelander hesitates.

He's never really been good at comforting people — he can follow a speech, put on a show for an audience, but in a situation like this, when he actually cares, it's a different beast entirely.

Because he recognizes the tremulousness in Aemond's voice, recognizes that abject fear of being left alone, hates it just as much as he empathizes with it. What had he wanted, when he'd felt that way? Would kindness be weakness? A part of him says yes, that he ought to remind Aemond about the nature of strength, of power, but—

(He thinks about Ryan, about pushing the kid from the roof of a house in an effort to teach him to fly, about the fear clear in the boy's eyes. Would he do it again?) ]

You know what, why don't you come with me? We'll get it done faster with the both of us.

[ Maybe that'd be the kinder thing, to offer a distraction rather than leaving him alone with the corpse. ]

[provoke]

[ rare is the moment that aemond hesitates, but it would seem tonight is full of rarities. gideon asks him to kill him, and aemond hesitates. now homelander asks him to come with him — what a sweetness it is to be asked, to be invited — and he hesitates.

this place insists on carving a place for him when all he wants to be is a blade slicing through flesh and bone.

gideon is dead. pierce is dead. people are dying all around them and somehow aemond remains untouched by it. if his fortune must hold, then—— ]

I won't forget your kindness in this moment, Homelander. Guide me. I'll come with you.